Men more likely to cheat if they earn less than partner: study
Do men who cheat really outnumber their female counterparts? Is infidelity in marriage more natural to them?
It’s hard to say. Researchers suggest that men generally inflate their number of relationships and sexual partners, while women tend to be more reticent about the extent of any extramarital affairs.
But, if the polls are to be believed, men do stray more than women, and have affairs to avoid intimacy, recover their lost youth, or escape an unhappy marriage.
But a recent item goes one further, suggesting that it’s men who are economically dependent on their female partners that are more likely to wander outside the relationship. What's more, the results proved to be quite the opposite when gender and breadwinner roles were reversed.
The study found men who completely relied on their female partner's income were five times more likely to cheat than those who contributed an equal amount of money in the relationship.
Men were least likely to be unfaithful when their partners made about 75 per cent of their incomes.
6.73 per cent of men reported cheating at least once during the six-year period. Of the women in the sample, 3.33 per cent reported being unfaithful at least once during the same period.
Granted, that’s a small minority. But it does suggest that money problems, along with other relationship factors of course, adds to men’s distraction and adverse behaviour.
On a related note: Researchers at the London School of Economics recently found that men with higher IQs – who typically make more money than the rest of the pack – place greater value on monogamy and sexual exclusivity than their less intelligent peers.
But the connection between conventional sexual morality and intelligence is not mirrored in women, the researchers note.
What do you think: Is income disparity a real contributing factor here? Has it put a strain on your own relationship?
By Gordon Powers, MSN Money
Posted by: aaa | Oct 6, 2021 9:14:06 AM
I believe that women and men cheat almost equally, if not equally.
Why does either sex not leave the marriage? They have too much to lose, financially, that they have worked very hard for, possibly over decades. So, they secretly fulfill their desires. In our financially oriented world, is it wrong to cheat in certain circumstances? I believe not.
Posted by: BG O'Hara | Oct 8, 2021 11:18:49 AM
Statistics have shown that men cheat more than women. They always have, and they are good at coming up with many creative reasons why they do it. If we look at 18 & 19th century Europe, upper crust society married to join family monies - not for love. It was considered acceptable behavior for these rich men to visit brothals, and then took their wives sexually by force. Like duh, I'm going to sleep willingly with my husband after I heard he was with a whore. It becomes a domino effect, even today. Women cheat because they are unhappy in their relationships. Period.
Posted by: aaa | Oct 8, 2021 11:33:30 AM
First of all, on this topic, who really should believe statistics?
Secondly, I agree about the 18th and 19th century. However, THEN women were pieces of property. Today, unlike then, EITHER the male OR the female can be considered a piece of property, depending on who's marrying the one with more monies. In most cases, it's the female marrying the money, however, I do know situations where it was the male marrying the money.
So, I disagree that the female always cheats simply because she is unhappy. As for "whores" or "hookers," often times they are safer than someone who appears, to society, to be safe.